SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: TEC 2018 was a big event for PSA and a lot of changes were made. How did it go?

Bill Bozeman: The changes to TEC this year were successful. We set a record in attendance, sessions offered, and vendors exhibiting. It was a learning experience for all parties and provided us the knowledge for more success in upcoming years. Everyone who attended had very good things to say about the event and we, as the PSA team, are very happy with how everything went. Needless to say, the move to downtown Denver in March made a big difference, a difference for the better. We are excited to see what 2019 has in store.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: What are some of the other events PSA organizes?

Bill Bozeman: We partnered with ISC Security Events (Reed Exhibitions) and the Security Industry Association (SIA) to offer a cybersecurity focused event, Cyber:Secured Forum, held this past spring at the Sheraton Downtown Denver. PSA has been providing cybersecurity education and resources to the integrator community since 2015 and this event continues that focus for integrators but also expands the scope a bit to encompass how integrators and IT professionals can work together. PSA also offers an educational track during ISC West. We utilize our committee members and industry partners to curate and lead these sessions.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Can you give us a recap of this year's Cyber:Secured Forum?

Bill Bozeman: This inaugural event was an amazing learning opportunity for all the parties involved. We had experts from organizations including IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Attorney Office, NIST, UL, and many other very prominent companies in the space. They covered topics ranging from the importance of having policies to upcoming trends that will drastically affect future cybersecurity practices. The conversations that were had after each session made it clear that cybersecurity is an area that many companies have yet to fully grasp. Our goal is to provide not only expert knowledge but to also encourage companies to establish and update their cybersecurity policies and procedures. It was a great event and we are looking forward to next year's event.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Education is a big part of PSA events and offerings. How is PSA keeping up with the changes in the security industry to continue to offer this resource?

Bill Bozeman: We have built an online portal for all our educational content and it is quite impressive (www.psaeducation.com).
This learning portal will house all of the webinars, content developed by PSA’s integrator-led committees, and training resources from industry partners and vendors. It also includes a personalized certification tracking tool for integrator companies to keep track of their employee certifications. The latest improvement to this site is the option for integrators to develop their own custom training portal. Companies will work with us to set up a dedicated portal for their employees to access with their selected content. The content can be provided by that company such as HR training programs or vendor content for products the company offers to end-users. Our education department is made up of three individuals who all have their Master’s degrees and who know how to produce and find quality education content.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Another change at PSA this year is the expansion of the National Deployment Program. Can you elaborate on that change?

Bill Bozeman: The National Deployment Program (NDP) is proving to be a big success partnering our integrators with other integrators to complete multi-location projects. We are now offering this program as a no-cost benefit to our PSA owners and members. With a network of highly vetted security integrators, NDP offers the extended coverage, resources, and local management to compete on projects previously beyond an individual integrator’s reach. This program has brought together both security and AV integrators and continues to grow those partnerships every day.